My Eyes, Your Eyes
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto; if I did, Sasuke would be a SASKUATCH!
Maria gazed back in the direction of the departing boy; she chuckled to herself thinking. She then diverted her attention back to the escorting guard who took her farther into the estate. They finally reached a room where a woman with red triangles on her face was petting and feeding several wolves.
'Didn't that Kiba person have those markings? Maybe it's the clan trade mark or something…'
The guard caught the woman's attention. She lifted herself off the floor, brushed herself of the canine fur and smiled to Maria,
"Konnichiwa, I recognize you from a month ago; you're that girl who was found on the outskirts. Are you here to check up on your pup?" the woman asked politely. Maria nodded, "Right this way, oh, and you can return to your post sir." The woman announced to the guard and he left. Maria and the woman began walking further into the room; it was big… "Oh, I'm Hana by the way; I've been taking care of your pup." She paused and smiled at Maria; the smile seemed half greeting and half concerned…
"I'm Maria…um, what is Val's condition?" Maria asked concerned, the concerned half of Hana's smile was wiped away to be replaced with a content one,
"She's perfectly ok now, but I'll tell you this; IT WASN'T EASY!" Maria and Hana laughed quietly. Maria then cast her gaze on the numerous canines in the Inuzuka abode; there were so many! "Lots of dogs, non?" Hana commented, Maria nodded her head slowly, Hana laughed, "The Inuzuka clan is known for its large number of canines and its use with canines. Each Inuzuka member has the ability to communicate with dogs and teach them jutsus. These canines are then allowed to participate with their masters in spars and exams; its really quite amazing to see dogs fighting with jutsus." Hana informed; Maria listened carefully and smiled,
"My old clan was like that…" Hana looked to Maria in confusion, "We have similar abilities; communication with dogs, teaching them jutsus etc. but there are differences; we can communicate with ALL animals-" Hana cut her off before she could finish,
"WO, WO, WO! Wait a second, your OLD clan? How can that…Oh…you must be an exile from the Rain, correct?" Maria nodded slowly and sorrowfully. "I really hate that village," Maria's eyes snapped open then shifted themselves to Hana, "their rules are idiotic, their citizens are heavily biased, their ninja's are worked to death at such early ages… I can't stand that place; it's far too harsh!" Hana finished in anger, Maria's gaze of shock altered into a gaze of joy; someone was actually on her side! Hana then turned her gaze to Maria; they both smiled to each other and continued to walk (one BIG room!). Hana and Maria reached the end of the enormous room to find a dog bed made of blue silk sheets; in it, was a sleeping wolven pup with black and gold fur. Maria smiled happily and thanked Hana graciously, "No problem Maria. She just fell asleep, so why don't you stay here until she wakes?" Maria nodded thankfully then kneeled beside her pal.
'Aw, Val, your so kawaii when your asleep…'
Hana left the two to prepare lunch. The canines' gazes followed Hana out, and then turned to Maria. She smiled and waved; the dogs gave her an odd look. Maria ignored the glares and looked to her wolf; a smile was smeared across her little, sleeping face. Something caught Maria's eye; Val's golden stripes were changing color…they turned silver!
'What! She has never turned silver before! -Pause- what could this emotion be? -Another pause- think Maria think! What emotions have Val expressed? Anger; that makes her markings red, joy turns the markings gold, sorrow, fright and pain make them black, love… oh my god…NO WAY!'
Maria was glaring at Val in shock; Val's markings were glowing silver brightly, her lips still showing a little canine smile, her tail swaying gracefully from side to side; ruffling the silk sheets below her. Maria couldn't believe it…Val found herself a crush this past month…
'Aw…Val…that's so adorable! Who could the lucky canine be?' Maria joked to herself, letting a light giggle escape her lips. She then glanced around the room to find various wolves/dogs glancing at her.
"Oh, sorry 'bout that" Maria blushed
"BARK!" (Is that bitch yours?) A/N: BTW: the dogs are using the proper term to describe a female canine a grey wolf questioned.
"Yes, she is," Maria paused to cast a loving smile at the glowing one, only to giggle again.
"Bark, bark, woof, bark" (How does she do that? No one has ever seen a dog with changing fur! When she first came; she was pure black with the most slices in her we have ever seen. Next thing we knew; she was black and gold, fully healed and prancing around; playing tag with the other pups. It's very confusing) Maria giggled at the canine's confusion,
"Her markings change color with her emotions: sorrow, fright or pain make her markings black, joy turns them gold, anger, which I recommend you try your hardest to avoid, turns them blood red." The grey wolf huffed a small laugh then looked to her again,
"Woof?" (What does silver mean?) Maria cast her gaze upon the hard wood floor,
"I don't know; she has never turned silver before. I have a hunch though, but I can't just jump to conclusions; I'll ask her when she wakes."
The canines soon felt a little more secure around Maria; they came closer and let her pet them. They were drawn into a large conversation by the time Hana returned with lunch,
"Ha, do you have a pokey in your clothes or something? Speaking of clothing, is that all you have?" Hana kneeled down and handed Maria a plate of rice, sushi and maki. Maria graciously took it, snapped the chopsticks that were laid next to the sushi and began devouring the fresh food. Hana blinked at her hunger, smirked then got off the floor, "Anyway, I have some spare clothes that might fit you, would you like to borrow them?" This offer made Maria's rice covered face shoot up. Hana laughed, "I'll take that as a yes. I'll be right back." With that, she left the room. Maria blinked whilst the dogs laughed a little, Maria then looked at her own face from the glass face; only to laugh at her own face in the reflection. She then picked the rice off her face and put them in her mouth.
After a truly appealing meal, Maria placed the plate on her lap and began carefully cutting a slice of shrimp into small pieces,
'Val would kill me if she found out that I ate shrimp and didn't save any for her! Giggle, good thing I remembered'
Hana returned shortly with a blue T-shirt, almost the same tint as the one Maria was currently wearing, black, baggy trousers and black gloves. Maria smiled to Hana to receive the same back. She took the clothes and was directed to the nearest bathroom. Maria went in the direction Hana pointed to, changed, and returned to find Val fully awake, wagging her tail and not a single trace of silver in sight. Maria called out to Val, who instantly turned around. Joy filled Val's soft blue eyes as they connected with Maria's silvery blue ones. Val bounded over to Maria and leapt into her lap. Maria brought the pup close to her chest and let tears of joy roll down her face.
The other wolves and Hana looked to Maria and Val with awe; they shared so much love, it gave off such a wonderful vibe. Hana strolled over to Maria with the shrimp she so carefully sliced for Val. Val jumped up and began digging her adorable black muzzle into the shrimp pieces, Maria giggled along with the other wolves.
After Val played for a while with the other pups, she and Maria said goodbye to Hana and the others. Hana had earlier allowed Maria to keep the clothes which was definitely a help to Maria. Maria decided that if she was going to live here, she would have to buy some furniture, clothing and accessories for the apartment the Hokage gave her.
Maria first stopped at a furniture store: in it she bought a white double bed and a blue single bed, two wardrobes, a rosewood dinning table with matching chairs, a black couch, white bedside tables etc. In the next store: she bought formal clothing, casuals, fighting clothing, shoes, weaponry and accessories for Val. It was one heck of a shopping spree! Maria had to stop by the apartment six times to drop off bags!
All of the furniture was successfully delivered to Maria's apartment and situated in the places that appealed to Maria. She then stretched herself out and plopped down on her new and heavenly couch.
'OH! This couch is HEAVEN!'
Val then began to tug on Maria's trousers; Maria looked down to find Val's puppy dog eyes pleading for food. A sound then echoed across the apartment, it originated from Maria's stomach… Maria blushed and Val burst out laughing. Maria glared at Val, catching her attention, she then dove off the couch and swooped her up. She glared at Val in the eyes, Val shivered a little, then, Maria drew her into a hug.
Maria grabbed her keys and the two departed for dinner.
'I saw some ramen place earlier, it smelt good.'
Maria repeated her thoughts to Val who remembered the scent. Val lead Maria to the Ichiraku stand where amazing aromas filled the air. Maria raced Val to the stand; both of them raced as if their lives depended on it. Maria won by a hair, she boasted wordlessly to Val with a content grin. Val growled at her; she just laughed. The two were too caught up in their own little world to realize three faces glaring at them.
"Hey, it's her again," one said,
"Bark!"
"Her who?" the other questioned,
"We ran into her earlier…literally…" Kiba answered.
"HEY!" Naruto yelled to Maria. He had successfully captured her attention,
"Um, hello?" she exclaimed, acknowledging his presence, she then blushed to find Kiba there as well, grinning and waving a hand at her. Her eyes scrolled down to find Akamaru in his jacket, "Hey Kiba, Akamaru." At Maria's announcement of a certain canine, Val began to turn silver again.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING TO YOUR DOG!" the loud blonde yelled. Maria looked to Val, to find her markings shining silver
'So THIS is the lucky pup…'
Maria laughed at Naruto, introduced herself and explained Val's situation ALL over again (It was the third time today!) once she was done, the blonde kid glared at the wolf in shock. There was ACTUALLY silence! Kiba turned to Naruto, waiting for him to remark, but the remark never came; instead, he lifted himself from his seat and walked home (OO;;;) Kiba then turned to Maria; who was smiling ever so sweetly, huffed, lifted himself from his stool and shook Maria's hand!
"THAAAAAAAAAAAANK YOU!" Kiba exaggerated. Maria blushed when his hand made contact with hers. She swallowed and blinked at Kiba. Kiba stopped shaking and noticed Maria's confused face. "It's been HOURS since he started talking, it's about time he shut his yap!" Maria let out a small laugh, soon to be joined by Kiba.
Akamaru watched the two humans laughing then diverted his attention to the wolven bitch (again, using the correct term) who was currently glowing black and silver.
'She's so…preeeeeeetty!' (Akamaru is a cute little puppy, and I'm the author, so I decide how the pup talks. I gave him a little kid voice…for now…)
Akamaru leapt from his master's jacket, letting the two humans talk amongst themselves while he went to play with Val. Kiba offered Maria a bowl of ramen on him, Maria looked at him wide eyed and began babbling about how she couldn't possibly, only to have her mouth covered by Kiba's hand. Maria blushed at his sudden reaction,
"Relax, I'm ok with it." Maria nodded and Kiba slid his hand off her mouth. Maria then remained quiet, only speaking to order and to say her thanks. After a single bowl of ramen, Maria felt like she would literally explode. "That's it?" Kiba questioned, Maria nodded, "Puft! Naruto would be chocking on his own laughter if he heard that." Maria looked to him in utter confusion, "Naruto devours about ten bowls of ramen per meal…" Maria's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, Kiba laughed. The two continued to talk for about two hours; the topics ranged from ramen to the sky falling (again OO;;;), romance to horror, nature to death…very odd topic changes indeed… the two then looked to the sky to find white stars painted across the sky.
"Well, it's getting late, see you later Kiba-kun" Maria waved goodbye and called for Val
"See ya later Maria-chan" Kiba returned her farewell then called for Akamaru.
The two waited for about two minutes and still no pups came. The two began scanning the scenery; neither pup were in sight! Maria and Kiba began to panic. Maria frantically began calling out to Val, same with Kiba, but neither pup were found.
"VAL! GET HERE NOW!" Maria yelled
"AKAMARU! AKAMARU THIS IS NO TIME FOR GAMES! GET HERE NOW!" Kiba yelled alternatively. The two nin looked to each other with worry in their eyes, "Come on!" Kiba yelled grabbing Maria's wrist, "Those two couldn't have gone far!" he yelled pulling Maria behind him. Maria was blushing, but at the same time, kind of annoyed since she was TRYING to perform a tracking jutsu…
"Kiba-kun, hold up"
"ARE YOU CRAZY! AKAMARU IS MISSING! I CAN'T JUST SIT HERE!" Kiba yelled at her face. Maria took a step back at his fury, Kiba saw her face and calmed down, "sorry…"
"It's ok, look, we were talking for an hour plus, those two could be on the other side of Konoha by now. Their scents would have faded, so, I'll try using my tracking jutsu. However, I need an item belonging to Akamaru for the jutsu to work, I already have one belonging to Val." Maria explained holding up Val's brush, Kiba nodded and handed her a collar. "That'll do." Maria placed the two items on the floor and began performing various hand seals; ox, horse, rat, horse, ram, ox, then called out: "TRACKING NO JUTSU!" suddenly, two sets of paw prints were glowing green on the road, Kiba glared at them in wonder. "THIS WAY!" Maria yelled, it was now her turn to yank Kiba by his wrists.
'Val…once I find you, you are SO dead!'
'Akamaru, I swear, you are in so much trouble, you're gonna regret it!'
